Hebrew Testament text for Sunday 21 July 2019

Amos 8:1-12

This is what the Lord God showed me-- a basket of summer fruit. He said, "Amos, what do you see?" And I said, "A basket of summer fruit." Then the Lord said to me,

"The end has come upon my people Israel;

I will never again pass them by.

The songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day,"

says the Lord God;

"the dead bodies shall be many,

cast out in every place. Be silent!"

Hear this, you that trample on the needy,

and bring to ruin the poor of the land,

saying, "When will the new moon be over

so that we may sell grain;

and the sabbath,

so that we may offer wheat for sale?

We will make the ephah small and the shekel great,

and practice deceit with false balances,

buying the poor for silver

and the needy for a pair of sandals, 

and selling the sweepings of the wheat."

The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob:

Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.

Shall not the land tremble on this account,

and everyone mourn who lives in it,

and all of it rise like the Nile,

and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?

On that day, says the Lord God,

I will make the sun go down at noon, 

and darken the earth in broad daylight.

I will turn your feasts into mourning,

and all your songs into lamentation;

I will bring sackcloth on all loins,

and baldness on every head;

I will make it like the mourning for an only son,

and the end of it like a bitter day.

The time is surely coming, says the Lord God,

when I will send a famine on the land;

not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water,

but of hearing the words of the Lord.

They shall wander from sea to sea,

and from north to east;

they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord,

but they shall not find it.

Reflection         We are not a single story. We are complex people living in a world drawn in ten thousand shades of grey. There are as many stories as there are people to tell them. When we reduce ourselves and one another to a single story, “Americans are… Republicans are…. Democrats are… Mexicans are… Jews are…Christians are… Moslems are… millennials are… women are… conservatives are… progressives are… we undermine the dignity of every person. 

Increasingly we find ourselves in situations where we are cast in a single story. If you mention something about healthcare, you are one of ‘those people.’ If you say something about abortion, you are one of ‘those people.’ If you utter the word border, ‘you are one of ‘those people.’ And conversation stops. The moment we experience our dignity being despoiled by being cast into a singular group story, we become defensive and either put up a fight or dig into silence. 

How many of you have been with a group of neighbors, parents or coworkers when the subject of immigration comes up and immediately the air is thick with tension as the group divides beneath two banners - are you one of us or are you one of them? In that instant the dignity of every person present is lost. We are not a single story but we have stopped listening to one another’s stories. We have lost the civil ground that enables us to listen and learn from one another.

Today we find ourselves embroiled in a social, political and religious context that is stealing our dignity and undermining our humanity. We feel angry and inclined to either attack or slip into silent retreat, neither of which sets the stage for us to restore dignity to ourselves and one another. Should we continue this pattern there is only one outcome and the prophet Amos says it well.

The time is surely coming, says the Lord God,

when I will send a famine on the land;

not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water,

but of hearing the words of the Lord.

They shall wander from sea to sea,

and from north to east;

they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord,

but they shall not find it.

Like the National Forest on red alert for fire danger it is as if we are waiting for the merest spark to insult and ignite us. Our minds close and our hearts harden as we anticipate affront and assume opposition. How dare we claim to be people who believe all beings are created in the image and likeness of God, who affirm God’s presence and action among us and intend to do mercy for our neighbors and strangers if we cannot open our minds and hearts to listen to one another’s complex personal stories?

On Sunday I will invite members and friends of Church of the Apostles into a structured process that I am calling,”For God’s Sake, Listen.” Borrowing a program from Facing History, Facing Ourselves we will create a safe environment in which to strengthen our listening and discussion skills and help us engage controversial topics.  We all have complex stories and all of our stories matter. 

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Gospel text for Feast of the Epiphany, Sunday 8 January 2017

Matthew 2.1-12        In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage." When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: `And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.’"

Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage." When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

Reflection       “Why do we give one another gifts?” Habit? Duty? Obligation? Guilt? Manipulation? I believe gifts given in the genuine sense of giving are the outward and visible sign of our interior state, our intrinsic good will. Some gifts reveal our sense of gratitude, some extend healing, others communicate our inner desire for reconciliation, still others express our interior state of reverence or love. Given this way, gifts are means by which we make visible our hidden or invisible thoughts and emotions. When we choose the so called perfect gift for someone we are communicating by our choice that we know and value them as the unique person they are. 

Which leads us to the wise men in today’s teaching story. Finding the child Jesus they are “overwhelmed with joy,” they open their treasure chests (their hearts?) and carefully choose the perfect gifts for the infant Jesus, gifts that reveal they know and value the unique person Jesus. The wisdom of the wise is to look beyond appearances of  destitute Jewish parents with a newborn lying in an animal feeding trough, and see a human being, a divine being, a fragile being destined to die.  

As with all good teaching stories, the wisdom is hidden between the lines.  The wisdom of the wise men is hidden in the gifts they bring. Gold represents humanity. Frankincense represents divinity and myrrh is used when preparing bodies for burial. The wise men’s gifts are the outward and visible signs of their interior understanding of the true nature of this child, Jesus. Human, divine and destined to die.

The wise mens’ well chosen gifts communicate, “We see you for who you truly are.” Like the brightness of a star that illumines the entire world, the foreigners’ perspicuity  elevates the exchange of gifts from expressions of mass marketing or mad materialism to a spiritual transaction. 

Celebrating the Feast of the Epiphany we receive the incomprehensible gift given to all of humanity; the revelation that like our brother Jesus we are human beings, divine beings and fragile beings destined to die. There are no foreigners, there are no strangers. There are no “others.” Receiving this news we join the wise men, overwhelmed with joy and reaching into our hearts we search for the perfect gift to communicate we know and value each person we meet for who they uniquely are; human, divine and utterly fragile.

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